Ch.163Chapter 163 – Flying Dragon (2)

A three-headed wyvern began to fly through the sky.

“Where are you going!”

I quickly looked at the direction it was flying and immediately felt my breath stop.

The direction it was heading was toward the center of the city. It was where evacuees had gathered since all four gates were under attack.

‘This is bad!’

I put strength into my legs and ran quickly. I started running across rooftops, and after a moment, I heard screams in the distance.

-“Aaaah, monster!”

-“Save us!!”

“Damn it!”

I ran blindly, but it seemed I had guessed correctly—the wyvern had arrived at the shelter where people were gathered. And now the wyvern was beginning a steep dive toward that location.

-Kryaaaa!!

Soon the wyvern descended low, crashing into a building. Fortunately, people had managed to escape just in time, and no one appeared to be injured.

-Kryaaaa!

And the wyvern itself was completely unharmed.

“Can’t that thing get injured at least!”

I shouted while running quickly. There was still quite a distance between me and the monster.

-“Stop the monster!”

-“Ah, I’m just a trainee…”

-“Hurry and stop it! Protecting people is the guards’ duty!”

Fortunately, there had to be some military presence inside the city. Even if they weren’t directly fighting, there would be at least a minimal number of personnel to control the evacuating people. Being in the rear rather than on the front lines meant they were likely soldiers who couldn’t fight properly, but that didn’t mean they weren’t soldiers at all.

Their movements were somewhat clumsy, but soldiers with serious faces began to confront the wyvern along with me. They started throwing and thrusting spears at the wyvern and…

-“Aaaaargh!”

With one sweep of its tail, they were sent flying.

-“Th-this one is stronger than a normal wyvern!”

-“What kind of monster wyvern is this anyway?!”

Normally, wyverns specialized in flight, making them more suited for aerial combat than ground battles. However, perhaps due to having three heads and tails, this one seemed to have no particular issues fighting on the ground. It swung its three tails to cover its rear and used its three heads to bite people from various directions. Occasionally, one head would breathe fire while the others would bite people in support.

-“This isn’t working, retreat!”

Eventually, the commander shouted those words. And the wyvern roared at the retreating soldiers.

-Kraaaaa!!

-“I-it’s coming this way!!”

As the wyvern lowered its massive body and began to charge, the evacuating people screamed loudly again. People could be seen trying to avoid the charge by entering nearby alleys or ducking down.

However, when a large number of people move at once, there are always one or two unlucky ones.

-“Ow!”

-“N-no!”

A child fell, and the child’s mother crouched over them, seemingly trying to protect them somehow. And one of the wyvern’s heads began to open its mouth, targeting the mother and child.

“Like I’d let you, you damn monster!”

I shouted as I threw my halberd like a boomerang. Making a terrifying sound, the halberd flew toward the wyvern’s neck, and the wyvern quickly pulled back its head in alarm. Then I stood before the wyvern.

“Run away quickly!”

“Th-thank you!!”

I watched as the mother and child quickly joined the others and fled, then turned my attention back to the monster. I couldn’t help but feel slightly tense as I aimed my halberd, which had somehow returned to my hand.

‘I wonder if this will be okay.’

I was gradually reaching a state where fighting properly was becoming difficult. My heart kept sounding alarms.

I briefly thought it would be nice if someone could be here with me.

If it were Eve, she would support me with instructions that seemed to predict the future; if it were Sera, she would help with tools made through alchemy; Christina would assist with powerful divine magic; and Beatrice would have stood beside me to fight together.

But unfortunately, everyone was scattered.

‘Still, I can’t just leave this thing alone.’

There were lives at stake—I couldn’t ignore it. Most people capable of fighting properly were already up on the walls fighting. The few remaining guards lacked skill and had retreated after being sent flying by one sweep of the wyvern’s tail.

That meant only one thing.

‘I have to fight it myself.’

I thought to myself as I faced the wyvern, which was now focusing all three of its heads on me.

‘Should I just give up and run away?’

I was approaching my limit for continuing to fight. I was certain that if I fought any longer, my already unknown remaining time would decrease further.

The temptation to flee for my survival began to cloud my mind. I glanced back slightly as if to shake off these confused feelings. People were still in the process of escaping. And the boy I had saved earlier was looking at me while struggling to run.

Seeing those pleading eyes, I quietly turned my head back.

‘No, I can’t.’

I can’t run away.

I steeled my resolve and adjusted my grip on the halberd.

“This doesn’t seem like a role suited for someone like me.”

I looked at the wyvern with self-deprecation. The creature roared, though I wasn’t sure if it could tell my expression through my helmet.

“…Fine, let’s see how far this goes, you damn beast.”

Having resolved to face the monster to protect people’s lives, I charged toward the wyvern. I dodged the flames spewing from its three mouths as I rushed in, avoided the swinging tails, and swung my weapon while staying as close to its body as possible.

-Slash!

I struck the area that corresponded to its belly with my halberd.

The creature began to roll its feet frantically, trying to shake me off, and I finally gave up on clinging tenaciously to it from the inside, quickly retreating backward.

The head on the right lunged at me, trying to bite me as if chasing after my retreat.

“Not there!”

I changed my weapon to a hammer and swung it wide to knock the head away. Then, with a time delay, another head came for me, while the central head prepared to breathe fire at me.

I threw my hammer directly at the central head, forcibly closing its mouth, and then dodged the biting mouth and struck it hard with my fist.

-Thwack!

With a crisp impact sound, the wyvern’s head jerked backward.

‘It’s less solid than that spider.’

I felt relieved at that fact. No matter how excellent Phobia was as a puppeteer, it seemed impossible to give high durability to a hastily made puppet.

Fortunately, it wasn’t particularly agile either, so I could dodge even with delayed movements.

The only problem was one thing.

‘…It hurts.’

I unconsciously grimaced at the warning signal from my heart. It felt like it was desperately telling me I needed to rest, even if just for a minute or a second.

‘I need to end this quickly.’

If I took my time and approached it methodically, I could certainly win without problems. But my body couldn’t hold out for that kind of strategy.

Just as I was considering my final move with my weapon raised, the three-headed wyvern also took a stance, as if hearing my inner thoughts.

Judging by the sparks leaking from its mouths, it too seemed to be preparing its maximum attack.

-Kraaaaa!!!

The three heads breathed fire. The expelled flames merged into one place like magic, becoming an even larger blaze that began to fly toward me.

I ran toward that flame.

Ignoring the pain in my heart, I ran.

“Aaaaaahhh!!”

The flames approached moment by moment, and the heat began to strike my body. I was just a few steps away from being completely burned. As the fire came right up to my face, my body was briefly engulfed in flames.

The wyvern seemed to believe I was attempting self-destruction, as I thought I saw a hint of a smile in its eyes.

‘Now!’

Enduring the terrifying heat, I forcibly twisted my body to escape the flames. I rolled on the ground several times to extinguish the fire clinging to my body. Then I immediately ran toward the wyvern.

Thanks to the flames it had shot, the creature had lost sight of me.

I ran forward, stepping on the debris of a broken building, and leaped toward the wyvern. The wyvern, which had been spewing fire determinedly as if intending to burn me to the bone, still hadn’t noticed me until that moment.

“One!”

I swung my halberd wide, cutting off the head that was closest to me. Only then did it seem to realize I had appeared, as the flames stopped from the remaining two heads, which looked at me with surprised expressions.

“Two!”

Without hesitation, I spun my entire body and cut off the central head. Belatedly trying to shake me off, the remaining head aimed to bite me.

“Three!”

I swung my halberd forcefully against that head. The weapon cleaved straight through the creature’s head and continued forward. When it was about halfway through, I twisted the weapon sharply, causing the head to fall off.

-Thud!

The last head fell, following the two that had fallen before. The wyvern’s body shook violently, and I, who had been on top of it, fell toward the ground.

‘I did it.’

I had killed the monstrous wyvern that had suddenly appeared. I tried to land on the ground and regain my posture.

“Cough!”

I collapsed right in front, spitting blood. The ground rapidly approached my vision, and my thoughts began to slow down.

‘Ah, I overdid it.’

The pain in my heart was alarming, as if the time limit had been reached.

“Aaaaargh…!”

I involuntarily twisted my body and screamed. I forcibly turned my body to lie face up, but that didn’t change anything.

‘Someone please…’

Just as I was about to call for help, I saw that there was no one around. Of course, people who had been fleeing from that monster wouldn’t still be here.

‘I should at least try to stay conscious…’

As I felt the pain from my alarmingly racing heartbeat and had such thoughts…

“Kay!”

“Mr. Kay!”

Eve and Sera were running toward me.

‘Thank goodness.’

Looking at them, I could see they had retrieved the weapons the elves had been carrying earlier. That meant they had won safely.

“You’re safe… cough!”

“Miss Seraphina! Emergency treatment!”

“Yes!”

Sera removed my helmet, almost tearing it off, and quickly began to feed me medicine. I almost spat it out at the bitter taste that spread in my mouth.

“Ugh…!”

“Swallow it, and stay conscious, Kay!”

Fortunately, Eve quickly stabilized my head so I didn’t spit out the medicine. Sera didn’t stop there; she took out a syringe from her chest and began to inject something into my neck.

“Don’t speak.”

With those words, the medicine Sera had made flowed into my body. As the pain subsided more than expected, my mind, which had been about to become hazy, cleared a bit.

“…That’s good medicine.”

“It’s absolutely not good.”

Sera spoke as if angry and began to inject something else into my neck. Then she explained:

“I’ve administered an enormous amount of painkillers. I’ve also administered an antidote just in case. This is the limit for emergency treatment, so you need to rest from now on.”

I looked at Sera and Eve’s faces, thinking about making some joke. And immediately cursed my stupid thought.

I had never seen such dark expressions on their faces before.

“Miss Eve, I think we should let him rest in a safe place until Chris comes to see him…”

“I saw a suitable building on the way, so for now let’s…”

The two discussed my condition with serious faces. Then Eve began to take some of the burden from Sera, and Sera started to lift me up.

“Let’s go quickly.”

“It’s this way.”

Eve nodded at Sera’s words as she carried me on her back, and began to guide us. Slowly, we started to leave that place.

Then Eve spoke:

“Beatrice has succeeded in annihilating the enemies at one section of the wall, and Christina seems to have gone with Allen to reinforce another wall.”

“And Lord Sestas has returned urgently and begun fighting the monsters outside, they say.”

I was about to ask where they got such information, but Sera explained with a smile that they had met a messenger on their way who had briefly informed them of the situation. The messenger was on his way to deliver news to the people at the shelter.

“It’s okay now, Kay.”

Eve said with a sad smile.

“Leave the rest to us and rest comfortably.”

“When we get there, I’ll give you a sedative too.”

Those were the warm words of the two.

“Thank you…”

I began to close my eyes, feeling grateful for their words that it was okay now, that I could rest.

-Thump!

[Not yet.]

A familiar voice was heard, and my heart beat. Feeling a sudden surge of energy return to my body, I moved urgently.

“Mr. Kay, what’s—eek?!”

“Kay? Miss Seraphina?”

Because I moved so suddenly, Sera, who had been carefully carrying me, fell sideways with me. Eve turned around in surprise to check on us.

And at that moment, all three of us saw it.

“What is… that…?”

Sera’s eyes filled with shock. Eve and I were the same.

“…I cut off its heads…”

The wyvern was standing.

With its three heads lost. And the next moment, its chest began to split open.

-Crrraaack…

With the sound of flesh being forcibly torn apart, the area corresponding to its chest split open. From inside emerged something like a giant eye.

The remaining four legs of the wyvern, which hadn’t been visible until now, were attached to the sides of the split area, as if they had been forcibly folded inside its body and only now unfolded.

It was a hideous appearance that could no longer be considered a living creature.

“What the hell is that monstrosity…!”

I stared at it with a voice full of disbelief.

The monstrosity spread its wings as it rose, opening its eye wide.

And with a silent roar, the air around us began to vibrate.